Peer-to-peer emergency communication using public broadcasting

ABSTRACT

A method for emergency communication includes encoding a message for visual display including a message to field and a message from field. The visual display is revealed to a reading device in communication with a broadcast center, which stores the visual display. The messages are decoded and sorted from visual displays at the broadcast center. On an index channel, a time and channel number for when a message body of the message will be broadcast on a message channel is broadcasted. The message body is broadcasted on the message channel.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

The present invention relates to emergency communication, and moreparticularly to systems and methods to enable emergency communicationswhen normal communication networks are down due to a disaster or thelike.

Description of the Related Art

During or after a natural disaster, message exchanges to inquire aboutthe safety of family, friends, and so on via e-mail or voice usingmobile devices may be impossible due to damage of base stations and/orpower failure. Landline phones are relatively more robust against adisaster, but there is a high likelihood that congestion issues willlimit their usefulness. Even in such circumstances, public broadcastingsystems (terrestrial, BS, CS, etc.) are active as well as satellites.However, the volume and size of the messages exchanged becomes a problemeven for these systems.

SUMMARY

A method for emergency communication includes encoding a message forvisual display including a message-to field and a message-from field.The visual display is revealed to a reading device in communication witha broadcast center, which stores the visual display. The messages aredecoded and sorted from visual displays at the broadcast center. On anindex channel, a time and channel number for when a message body of themessage will be broadcast on a message channel is broadcasted. Themessage body is broadcasted on the message channel.

A method for emergency communication includes encoding a message forvisual display including a message to field and a message from field;revealing the visual display to a reading device in communication with abroadcast center which stores the visual display; decoding and sortingthe messages from one or more visual displays at the broadcast center;on an index channel, broadcasting a time and channel number for when amessage body of the message will be broadcast on a message channel;broadcasting the message body on the message channel; scanning the indexchannel to learn when to tune in to the message channel to receive themessage; and tuning to the message channel at a designated time toreceive the message.

A system for emergency communication includes a message encoderconfigured to encode a message from a sending device and an encodedmessage device configured to display a message with a message to fieldand a message from field as a visual display. A reading device isconfigured to read the visual display. A broadcast center is configuredto receive and store the visual display uploaded by the reading device,the broadcast center is also configured to decode visual displays backto messages and sort the messages from one or more visual displays tobroadcast the messages on an index channel and a message channel. Theindex channel includes a time and channel number for when a message bodyof the message will be broadcast on the message channel, and the messagebody is broadcast on the message channel at the allocated time andchannel designation such that the messages can be received duringemergency conditions when telephone network communications are down.

These and other features and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing detailed description of illustrative embodiments thereof,which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The disclosure will provide details in the following description ofpreferred embodiments with reference to the following figures wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block/flow diagram showing a system/method for processingmessages during an emergency condition in accordance with the presentprinciples;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing illustrative content supplied over anindex channel and a message channel in accordance with the presentprinciples;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing address indexing to reduce or compressdata and to provide message privacy in accordance with the presentprinciples;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an illustrative example of to/frommatching in accordance with the present principles;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an illustrative example of large quickresponse code for satellite and other cameras in accordance with thepresent principles;

FIG. 6 is a block/flow diagram showing an illustrative example for largequick response encoding to consolidate a group of messages in accordancewith the present principles; and

FIG. 7 is a block/flow diagram showing another system/method forprocessing messages during an emergency condition in accordance with thepresent principles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with the present principles, peer-to-peer communicationsare enabled under disaster or emergency conditions. Peer-to-peercommunications under circumstances where no communication wouldotherwise be possible are provided via e-mail or voice using mobiledevices or landline phones using public broadcasting service orsatellite systems. Message senders may have mobile devices equipped witha One Seg (1Seg) receiver and code encoder, such as a quick response(QR) code encoder (hereafter QR code).

The core standards of Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB)are ISDB-S (satellite television), ISDB-T (terrestrial), ISDB-C (cable)and 2.6 GHz band (B) mobile broadcasting which are all based on MPEG-2or MPEG-4 standard for multiplexing with transport stream structure andvideo and audio coding (MPEG-2 or H.264), and are capable of highdefinition television (HDTV) and standard definition television. ISDB-Tand ISDB-Tsb are for mobile reception in TV bands. One Seg is the nameof an ISDB-T service for reception on cell phones, laptop computers andvehicles. The concept was named for its similarity to IntegratedServices Digital Network (ISDN) in the US, because both allow multiplechannels of data to be transmitted together (multiplexing).

In accordance with the present embodiments, message senders use theirmobile phone or landline device to convert a message to exchange to QRcode, and have a code image taken by a closest public camera, e.g., asurveillance camera, TV camera, large screen camera, satellite camera,home network camera, etc. In case the code is too small to be resolved,the codes can be enlarged in accordance with a resolution of a givencamera. A plurality of people in an area may send collective orconsolidated messages; such messages can be gathered and senteffectively as one QR code.

The photo of code taken can be consolidated at or for a broadcastingcenter, and classified by a destination of the mobile phone companies.The broadcasting center first sends index information to an indexchannel to inform of the channel number and time for the message body(on a message channel), then sends the message to the message channelspecified by the index channel. The message is transmitted using One Seg(MPEG), and the message is received from the senders. By reducing thesize of addresses of “from” and “to”, and by using the index channelexclusively for the data of index to the message information, thepresent principles are enabled to send the information to receiverswhich cannot be achieved solely by sending all the messages to One Segservice. By limiting the area of the broadcast by knowing the area ofthe “to” address, the messages can be effectively broadcast, avoidingbroadcasting messages where receivers do not exist.

In particularly useful embodiments, a method to enable peer-to-peer(p2p) message exchange in an environment, where multiple terminaldevices and a broadcasting center are included, sends messages todevices by a one way broadcasting channel from the broadcasting centerto each device, and a service to upload images from the message sendersto the broadcasting center. The message sender converts visible codeincluding a message body, a sender ID, and a receiver IDs. Capturedvisible code is received by the broadcasting center via a channel toupload the codes. The broadcasting center decodes the visible code,extracts receiver IDs and messages, and creates index information whichincludes time and channel number for a second broadcast channel (i.e., amessage channel). The broadcasting center broadcasts the indexinformation to a first channel (i.e., index channel). A messagereceiver's device is always receiving the first channel information, andif the receiver receives an ID which is same as their ID, the receiverextracts the time and channel number of the second broadcast channel.The receiver's device is automatically tuned to the second channel knownfrom the index channel, and obtains the message sent to the receiver.The code is not restricted to visible code, but visible code ispreferred since it is more universally employed with common cameradevices.

Locations of the receiver's devices may be specified based on thehistory of the past message exchanges, and the index information andmessage information may be broadcasted only to areas, which include thespecified area where the receiver's devices exist. IDs of senders andreceivers may be shortened by indexing before visible codes are created.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing. Computer program code for carrying out operations foraspects of the present invention may be written in any combination ofone or more programming languages, including an object orientedprogramming language such as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The program codemay execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or theconnection may be made to an external computer (for example, through theInternet using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described below with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. The computer program instructions may also beloaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, orother devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed onthe computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce acomputer implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof code, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be notedthat, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in theblocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, twoblocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantiallyconcurrently, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverseorder, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be notedthat each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, andcombinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchartillustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedsystems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” ofthe present principles, as well as other variations thereof, means thata particular feature, structure, characteristic, and so forth describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodimentof the present principles. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in oneembodiment” or “in an embodiment”, as well any other variations,appearing in various places throughout the specification are notnecessarily all referring to the same embodiment.

It is to be appreciated that the use of any of the following “/”,“and/or”, and “at least one of”, for example, in the cases of “A/B”, “Aand/or B” and “at least one of A and B”, is intended to encompass theselection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of thesecond listed option (B) only, or the selection of both options (A andB). As a further example, in the cases of “A, B, and/or C” and “at leastone of A, B, and C”, such phrasing is intended to encompass theselection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of thesecond listed option (B) only, or the selection of the third listedoption (C) only, or the selection of the first and the second listedoptions (A and B) only, or the selection of the first and third listedoptions (A and C) only, or the selection of the second and third listedoptions (B and C) only, or the selection of all three options (A and Band C). This may be extended, as readily apparent by one of ordinaryskill in this and related arts, for as many items listed.

Referring now to the drawings in which like numerals represent the sameor similar elements and initially to FIG. 1, a block/flow diagram showsa communication system 10, which employs available resources in disasterand/or emergency scenarios. In disaster scenarios, mobile phone andinternet service is not available. However, communication resources maystill be available. These may include surveillance cameras, publicbroadcasting services, such as TV and radio, and satellite services.Also, powered mobile phones and handheld devices, senders 12, may beequipped with resources that can enable emergency communication. Theseresources may include cameras and barcode readers/encoders, etc. Whilemany symbols, which can be digitally rendered or physically written(handwritten) may be employed, the present principles with be describedin terms of bar coding or QR coding of textual messages for simplicity.Any messaging device 12 may include but is not limited to phones,handheld computers or any other portable computing device having adisplay. A sender 12 encodes a message to QR code off-line. The messagemay include any text message or message code. The message is convertedto a bar code or QR code using an encoding application 14, which may bestored on the sender's device 12. The encoded message is displayed on adisplay device or mechanism 16, such as computer screen, public screenor monitor, a phone screen, a mobile phone screen, on a printed outpiece of paper, on a projection device, etc. The encoded message mayinclude an adjusted resolution 17 to be viewable by one or more imagereaders for various reading modalities. For example, the encoded messagemay include a black and white QR code, an enlarged QR code, a bar codeor other readable encoding.

A reading device 18 reads the displays visual code. In one embodiment,the encoded message can be uploaded by satellites or other equipment. Inone embodiment, message encodings are read by satellite. For example, agiven area may be designated for satellite upload, and encoded messagesmay be presented as the designated location for uploading by one or moresenders. Satellites can recognize encodings of about 50 cm on theground. Messages can be presented as large size QR encodings, forexample, the size of 41×41 QR code (1088 bit) will be 20.5 m×20.5 m with50 cm per cell. Other methods are also contemplated. See, e.g., FIG. 5.

The encoded message 14 is displayed as an image (16) and can be read orcaptured by the reading device 18. The reading device 18 is a device orsystem that remains operational during the disaster or emergency. Thereading device 18 may include, e.g., a satellite, aircraft, helicopter,surveillance camera, television camera, etc. or other reading devicesavailable under power failure. The reading device 18 can take a photo orotherwise scan the encoded message for delivery to a broadcast center20. In one embodiment, an application may be employed to identifylocations on a map, such as surveillance cameras or convenience stores,shelters, etc. where a camera or reading device 18 is located foruploading messages. The location data/maps may be broadcast by thebroadcast center 20.

The broadcast center 20 receives and decodes the encoded messages andsorts the messages based the “To” information in the messages. To avoidlong message addresses (both To and From), the addresses may beshortened within a limit where senders and receivers can still becorrectly identified (short mail address). Messages are collected at thebroadcast center 20, and the center 20 sends a time and channel numberwhere the message bodies will be broadcasted to an index channel 21. Themessages are then broadcasted on a message channel in block 22. Thebroadcast center 20 bundles the messages and specifies the channel andtimes of when message bodies from a given area or group will bebroadcast. This reduces the number or amount of broadcast bandwidthneeded to effectively broadcast all messages.

Receivers 24 can receive index information from the index channel 21using applications, such as One Seg or a digital terrestrial service,and then receive the message body from the message channel 22 whosechannel number and time are specified from the index channel 21. Forexample, if messages from a given region are to be broadcast on channel1 at 12 PM, this information is broadcast over the index channel 21 andmay be constantly streamed. Then, receivers 24 can receive messagebodies over the message channel 22 from channel 1 at 12 PM for thatregion or other bundling group. The receivers 24 will automaticallyassociate their address to the information in the index channel 21, andaccordingly listen at the correct channel and time to pick up themessage body from the message channel 22. Even in the case of powerfailure, terrestrial service can be received by using self-powergeneration or a BS-antenna. The receivers 24 may include any handhelddevice, computer or other communication device capable of receivingmessages.

From the message channel 22, the receivers 24 can ignore the messages ifthe “from” address does not match any of the short addresses calculatedfrom his/her device (e.g., telephone) directory. The center 20 specifiesthe area of the receivers 24 based on recent history of who sentmessages, and broadcasts messages only to areas where the receivers 24may exist (To/From matching). By limiting the broadcasting area based onthe history of recent past message exchanges, unnecessary broadcastingcan be avoided, and message delivery speed can be increased. Forexample, by dividing Japan into 10 regions, e.g., Hokkaido, Tohoku,Kanto, Koshinetsu, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa,if a destination area can be specified, a number of messages to bebroadcasted can be reduced to 1/10 using to/from matching.

This enables peer-to-peer (p2p) communication even if mobile phones,landline phones, and the internet become unavailable during a disasterusing public broadcasting services or the like. The present principlesmake best use of the infrastructure, and enable p2p communication duringdisasters.

Referring to FIG. 2, a transmission from a sender (12) over the indexchannel 21 and the message channel 22 are shown in accordance with oneillustrative example. The sender YYY sends a message to XXX. The indexchannel 21 decodes the sender's initial message and employs anapplication, e.g., One Seg to decode the message from an MPEG format, tofind XXX information in the message. A channel number and message timeare obtained for broadcasting of a message body 32 by receiver 34. Inthis example, the message body 32 will be broadcast on channel 100 attime 12:10. A receiver device 34 tunes One Seg to CH-100 at 12:10, findsXXX and receives the message body 32 using, e.g., an MPEG format,although other formats may be employed. The message can be automaticallyreceived using an application set up to listen to relevant messages.

The message channel 22 broadcasts the message bodies associated with theappropriate to/from data. The One Seg application tunes to Ch-100 at12:10 to look for and receive the message body to XXX. Location and timeof the sender's message can be received from the sender's device and maypreferably be transmitted with the body of the message. Here, the senderis identified as YYY, and the message body includes “I'm fine, familyinjured, Aoba-ku, Yokohama-shi, 11:59:43”.

Message formatting and content compression are considerations for highcongestion time periods. During a disaster, many messages may be neededto be broadcast over a single link or network since regular networks maybe down. Therefore, short mail or message address formatting ispreferred. In one embodiment, the length of a sender's address may bereduced and privacy may also be preserved. To reduce the length of theaddress both “To” and “From” addresses may be converted to adr_N, with Nbits. Mail addresses of mobile phones tend to be long, e.g.,js19nut3gcj6i1t5bid2=106 bits. The addresses can be converted by, e.g.:

Convert address_i to Nbit adr_Ni

adr_Ni=lsb(hash(address_i),N), where lsb is the least significant bit.

To maintain privacy, the message itself may be encrypted by a public keyof the receiver. To send an encrypted message to more than one receiver,a message encryption key (Kt), which encrypts (Enc) the message body(body) can be encrypted by the public key (PK) of the respectivereceivers, e.g.:

From: adr_N1 To:adr_N2, adr_N3, Enc(PK_2,Kt),Enc(PK_3,Kt),Enc(Kt,body)

Referring to FIG. 3, short addresses may include preserved privacy atthe receiver, as follows. First, adr_Nx is calculated from thereceiver's address x in block 212. Then, calculate {adr_Ni}, i=1, . . ., M from x's address directory 203 in advance, where M is the number ofusers registered in x's address directory 203. In the index channel inblock 204, if x finds adr_Nx in a “To” address and finds one of {adr_Ni}in the “From” address as in block 207, x decodes the body in the messagechannel 206. If the decoded message does make sense, x receives themessage as mail in block 208. Otherwise, the message may be ignored inblock 210. If ignored, steps may be taken to resend, reencrypt or alertthe sender that the message was not received.

In another embodiment, “A” persons may simultaneously send messages totwo, e.g., each of A persons registers B persons in his/her messageaddress directory. If a length of the address is converted to N bits, p,the probability of decoding mails which make sense as messages that arenot intended for a receiver (by mistake) is as follows, where q is aprobability that an encrypted messages makes sense when decrypted by anincorrect key:p=1−(1−(1−2−N)B)q)^(2A2) ^(−N) .

p2 is the probability that all of A persons do not decode incorrectmessages.p2=(1−p)^(A).

In one example, if A=10⁶, B=100, q=0.01, the minimum N that makes p2<0.5is N=21. By making the length of address=21 bits, messages can be sentwithout decoding messages not intended for a given receiver. Thisprovides a broadcast center the ability to reduce the address size toincrease throughput or increase address size to increase privacy. Thelength of address can be dynamically changed based on A, B and q, andthe address length can be set and controlled by the broadcast center.While the example demonstrates that ability to control throughput andincrease efficiency and/or privacy, other encryption and encode/decodemethods may be employed.

Referring to FIG. 4, an illustrative example of to/from matching isillustratively described in accordance with the present principles. Thebroadcast center stores messages received and can match message-to andmessage-from fields to appropriately route the messages. Assume, forthis example, that a sender 001 does not know where persons he/she istrying to contact are located (“To” location). If messages are receivedfrom “From” persons in the broadcast center and someone is sending mailsto the “To” persons, the messages are sent only to the area where “To”persons exist. Thus, messages are not sent where receives do not exist.This enables other messages to be delivered faster.

In block 302, messages are received from Tokyo (from: 003 to: 005, 007);Nagoya (from: 001, to: 002, 003, 008); and Osaka (from: 005, to: 001)for broadcast. In block 304, to/from matching is performed to route themessages efficiently. Since a message was received from 003 in Tokyo,the assumption is that 003 can receive messages in Tokyo so the messagefrom Nagoya in block 302 (“to” lists 003) is routed to Tokyo in block304. Similarly, the message from Osaka in block 302 is from 005 and isrouted to Nagoya in block 304 where 001 has sent a message in block 302.The message from Toyko to 005 is routed to Osaka in block 304 wheresender 005 has sent a message from. Since there was no “from” messagesby 002, 007, and 008, these messages can be broadcast to the wholecountry or other designated area or region.

Referring to FIG. 5, sending messages using large QR code may takeadvantage of satellite uploading (or uploading to other camera devices)to broadcast emergency messages. Large QR code 402 may be presented inlarge black and white grids 404 so that its photo can be taken bysatellite. A large QR code 402 may be created by clipping parts from apaper, or affixing squares to paper as parts of the QR code. The partsare preferably black and white to create contrast for the large QR code,although other color combinations may be employed. In anotherembodiment, the code may be created on a device 406 and projected oruploaded to a screen or other device configured to provide the properresolution for reading the large QR symbols.

In other embodiments, a projector may be employed to enlarge QR code 402and to display the code on the ground, the roof of the projectors,mountains, or ocean, etc. While high contrast visible light is beingdescribed, other forms of radiation may be employed, e.g. laser light,non-visible light, etc. In still other embodiments, sequential QR codemay be employed, e.g., display the large QR code using a PC or field ofPCs or sequentially transmit data with a known interval between pulsesor signals. In emergency situations, the large QR code paper or systemmay be set up in advance, e.g., in schools, shelters, hospitals, publicoffices, etc. Satellites can recognize QR encodings of about 50 cm onthe ground. Messages can be presented as large size QR encodings, forexample, the size of 41×41 QR code (1088 bit) will be 20.5 m×20.5 m with50 cm per cell. Other methods are also contemplated.

Referring to FIG. 6, an illustrative example is described for employinglarge QR encoding to send or convey consolidated messages by ad-hoccommunication in accordance with one embodiment. A common template fordisasters may be employed where known messages are grouped together orconsolidated. For example, in response to a disaster signal sent by thegovernment an automatic function or application in each device may beenabled to employ QR encoding and an application that employs the commontemplate.

A message 502 to be sent is depicted, which includes a “to” field 504with a number of receivers (XXX, YYY, etc.) listed. The message 502includes a message body 506, which if common template messages areemployed, can be consolidated with other messages from other senders.Note that in the body of the message the template may insert the timeand the location using, e.g., GPS or other means to automatically insertthis data. A message 512 received is depicted, which includes a “from”field 514 with the sender listed (ZZZ). The message 512 includes themessage body 506. The data of these and other messages to be sent or tobe received can be consolidated and compressed to reduce payload of thead-hoc communication system.

In block 520, messages from four senders A, B, C and D are consolidated.Each sender includes a message code 521 from a common template list 522.Multiple message codes 512 may be included, but preferably a single codeshould be employed. A consolidated send to routing list 524 is createdincluding the consolidated messages. The consolidated messages andto/from lists are encoded, e.g., in large QR code. Using the commontemplate messages, the “from” field may use 28 bits, the “to” field 56may use 56 bits (for two people) and the message code may include 6bits. The total would be 90 N bits for N people to send messages. Anexample table 526 shows columns for a code size, payload and number ofpersons. The columns associate data so that the messages can beappropriately consolidated into a single QR code.

Referring to FIG. 7, a method for emergency communication is shown inaccordance with one illustrative embodiment. In block 702, a message iscreated with sender device, such as a telephone or other device. Thedevice may include a portable or alternate energy source device to beoperational during emergency conditions, such as without power orwithout a normally operating telecommunication network system. In block704, the message is encoded for visual display including a message-tofield and a message-from field. The message-from field may beautomatically provided from the device. Encoding the message for visualdisplay may include encoding the message in quick response (QR) code orother readable encoding. In block 706, the visual display of the messagemay have its resolution adjusted to accommodate a reading device. Thevisual display may include a paper image, a digital image, etc. to becaptured by a reading device. The paper images may be configured withpeal-away regions or adhesive sticking regions to manually create amessage code output by a sender's device.

In block 708, the visual display is revealed to the reading device ordevices in communication with a broadcast center which stores the visualdisplay. The reading device may include a camera or scanner on one ormore of a surveillance system, a satellite, an aircraft, a televisionbroadcast camera, etc. The idea is to employ equipment that is availableand operational under emergency conditions.

In block 710, the messages are decoded from one or more visual displaysand sorted at the broadcast center. The broadcast center includes anetwork capable of operation during an emergency condition, and mayinclude a television or radio network, a satellite network, a cablenetwork, a cellular network, etc. or portions of these networks thatremain available during an emergency condition.

In block 712, network management includes reducing bandwidth, trafficand power requirements. This may include one or more of the following.

In block 714, perform to/from matching of the messages to reduce networktraffic. This includes collecting messages at the broadcast center androuting messages to areas that have revealed receivers based onpreviously sent messages by the receivers. In block 716, messages may beconsolidated by using a common template message list and encoding aplurality of messages into a single encoding (visual display). In block718, a short mail address may be created by compressing to/frominformation into an indexed address format.

In block 720, message privacy may be provided. In block 722, privacy maybe provided by encrypting a message using a message key and a publickey. This may include using public keys for each receiver to enable asingle message to be distributed among a plurality of receivers. Inblock 724, privacy may be provided by adjusting a length of an addressto ensure that the message will not be received by anyone other than thelisted addressee.

In block 726, messages are broadcast by the broadcast center. In block728, a time and channel number are broadcast on an index channel. Thetime and channel number indicate when a message body of the message willbe broadcast on a message channel. In block 730, the message body isbroadcast on the message channel at the designated time and channelassignment.

In block 732, receivers can scan the index channel to learn when to tuneinto the message channel to receive the message. In block 734, themessage channel is tuned at a designated time to receive the message ormessages. Return messages may be sent in a similar manner or inaccordance with the available technology.

Having described preferred embodiments for peer-to-peer emergencycommunication using public broadcasting (which are intended to beillustrative and not limiting), it is noted that modifications andvariations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of theabove teachings. It is therefore to be understood that changes may bemade in the particular embodiments disclosed which are within the scopeof the invention as outlined by the appended claims. Having thusdescribed aspects of the invention, with the details and particularityrequired by the patent laws, what is claimed and desired protected byLetters Patent is set forth in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for emergency communication, comprising:encoding a message for visual display including a message-to field and amessage-from field; revealing the visual display to a reading device incommunication with a broadcast center which stores the visual display;decoding and sorting the messages from one or more visual displays atthe broadcast center by collecting messages at the broadcast center androuting messages to areas that have revealed receivers based onpreviously sent messages by the receivers; on an index channel,broadcasting a time and channel number for when a message body of themessage will be broadcast on a message channel; and broadcasting themessage body on the message channel.
 2. The method as recited in claim1, wherein encoding the message for visual display includes encoding themessage in quick response code.
 3. The method as recited in claim 1,wherein revealing the visual display to a reading device includesdisplaying the visual display to a camera or scanner on one or more of asurveillance system, a satellite, an aircraft and a television broadcastcamera.
 4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein encoding themessage for visual display includes adjusting a resolution of the visualdisplay to accommodate the reading device.
 5. The method as recited inclaim 1, wherein the decoding and sorting includes to/from matching ofthe messages to reduce network traffic.
 6. The method as recited inclaim 1, further comprising creating a short mail address by compressingto/from information into an indexed address format.
 7. The method asrecited in claim 1, further comprising consolidating messages using acommon template message list and encoding a plurality of message into asingle encoding.
 8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein revealingthe visual display includes employing a paper image to be captured bythe reading device.
 9. The method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising providing privacy by encrypting the message using a messagekey and a public key.
 10. The method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising providing privacy by adjusting a length of an address toprovide privacy.
 11. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein thebroadcast center includes a network capable of operation during anemergency condition.
 12. A non-transitory computer readable storagemedium comprising a computer readable program for emergencycommunication, wherein the computer readable program when executed on acomputer causes the computer to perform the steps of claim
 1. 13. Amethod for emergency communication, comprising: encoding a message forvisual display including a message to field and a message from field;revealing the visual display to a reading device in communication with abroadcast center which stores the visual display; decoding and sortingthe messages from one or more visual displays at the broadcast center bycollecting messages at the broadcast center and routing messages toareas that have revealed receivers based on previously sent messages bythe receivers; on an index channel, broadcasting a time and channelnumber for when a message body of the message will be broadcast on amessage channel; broadcasting the message body on the message channel;scanning the index channel to learn when to tune in to the messagechannel to receive the message; and tuning to the message channel at adesignated time to receive the message.
 14. The method as recited inclaim 13, wherein encoding the message for visual display includesencoding the message in quick response code and adjusting a resolutionof the visual display to accommodate the reading device.
 15. The methodas recited in claim 13, wherein revealing the visual display to areading device includes displaying the visual display to a camera orscanner on one or more of a surveillance system, a satellite, anaircraft and a television broadcast camera.
 16. The method as recited inclaim 13, further comprising reducing network bandwidth by one or moreof: creating a short mail address by compressing to/from informationinto an indexed address format; consolidating messages using a commontemplate message list and encoding a plurality of message into a singleencoding; and performing to/from matching of the messages to reducenetwork traffic wherein to/from matching includes collecting messages atthe broadcast center and routing messages to areas that have revealedreceivers based on previously sent messages by the receivers.
 17. Themethod as recited in claim 13, further comprising providing privacy byone or more of: encrypting the message using a message key and a publickey; and adjusting a length of an address to provide privacy.
 18. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a computerreadable program for emergency communication, wherein the computerreadable program when executed on a computer causes the computer toperform the steps of claim
 13. 19. A system for emergency communication,comprising: a message encoder configured to encode a message from asending device; an encoded message device configured to display amessage with a message to field and a message from field as a visualdisplay; a reading device configured to read the visual display; and abroadcast center configured to receive and store the visual displayuploaded by the reading device, the broadcast center being configured todecode visual displays back to messages and sort the messages from oneor more visual displays to broadcast the messages on an index channeland a message channel, to collect the messages at the broadcast center,and to route the messages to areas that have revealed receivers based onpreviously sent messages by the receivers, the index channel including atime and channel number for when a message body of the message will bebroadcast on the message channel, the message body being broadcast onthe message channel at the allocated time and channel designation suchthat the messages can be received during emergency conditions whentelephone network communications are down.
 20. The system as recited inclaim 19, wherein the broadcast center is further configured to performincludes to/from matching of the messages to reduce network traffic.